The policy framework for the commercial rollout of Internet Protocol TV, or IPTV has been cleared by the government today and additionally an announcement for necessary changes to downlinking guidelines for TV channels was also made.

Presently, the broadcasters can only share their channels for the cable and direct-to-home platforms under downlinking. The new amendment made by the government will let the broadcasters to share channels with the IPTV platforms too.

The Minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Priyaranjan Dasmunsi reported after the Cabinat meeting, “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had submitted its recommendations for IPTV to the I&B ministry some months back and it was pending the approval from the government.”

Presently, BSNL and MTNL, which are state owned, are already providing IPTV services across several cities. At the same time private players which include Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications are also set to launch their IPTV services.  

The advantage of IPTV is that it uses high-speed internet to deliver not only the TV channels but also other services like time-shift TV, interactive advertising, movies without any advertisements and games.

The consumers will be able to access all the past and present television shows at the touch of the button through this facility. Additionally, the consumers can also pause live channels and play it back several times.

So, happy hours for the consumers are soon to begin as now they will have choice between IPTV, DTH and cable television services.

Kailash Chaudhari, managing director of Aksh Optifibre, which provides back-end support for IPTV services of MTNL and BSNL, reported, “IPTV policy framework will open doors for huge investments in this sector. For consumers, it will mean more quality content and other value-added services at the lowest possible monthly subscriptions.”